Three-Dimensional Seepage Effects at Three New Orleans Levee Breaches During Hurricane Katrina   Diego Cobos-Roa Graduate Student Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of California Berkeley, CA Email: dcobos@berkeley.edu Robert Bea Professor Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of California Berkeley, CA Email: bea@ce.berkeley.edu
			ABSTRACT

Three widely studied seepage related failures in New Orleans levees during Hurricane Katrina are reanalyzed to determine the three-dimensional seepage effects of excavations near the landside and waterside levee toes. This paper summarizes analyses performed to characterize the response of the subsurface soils to these narrow features. The results demonstrate that pore water pressures and hydraulic gradients developed near the landside toe are exacerbated by the excavations and have important effects on the stability of the floodwall – levee flood protection structures.

Keywords: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Levee Breaches, Floodwalls, Excavations, Failures.

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